Valence-Marseille, 12th of April, 2014
C´est fini! This year’s Tour Auto is history...After 1900 enjoyable
kilometres on five days including 9 special stages on closed off
country roads and four circuit races the Tour reached the final
destination at Marseille. With total driving times of 10 hours a day
over a full working week the TA is certainly one of the most
demanding rallies in the historic car circus but also one of the
most satisfying. This could be seen at the finish line in Marseille
were the places on the podium were celebrated directly under the
chequered flag but all the finishing crews went directly to the
party in the champagne sponsors tent, still wearing their race
suits. Over a full week a lot of impressions could be collected that
will be kept in mind for a long time, at least until next year’s event
were most of the participants will be back in Paris.
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Safe the best for last, this could be the description of the last
stage today. Early in the morning another hill climb (the last
special stage of the week) had to be taken before the route
headed south towards Le Castellet. After a longer motorway
section the drivers could enjoy the Col de l´Espigoulier between
Auriol and Gemenos, this is the highest pass in the region and
gives a splendid overview on the area, not to mention the driving
pleasure on the numerous serpentines. As most of the cars in the
later classes reached the col in the afternoon the light was just
wonderful, certainly the road is also a preferred excursion
destination for bikers and cyclists but still there was remarkable
few traffic for a Saturday afternoon.
After this probably best section of the entire week the last stop
was made at Le Castellet were the final race of the week was
held on the very modern race track. Unlike Bresse or Anneau du
Rhin even the more cautious drivers could enjoy their car to the
fullest, the run-off areas are very spacious solid ground (no gravel)
and the red and blue stripes make Paul Ricard not just very
forgiving for driving errors but also very unique and recognizable.
The overall victory is usually decided in the second competition
class that includes the latest GT cars of the original Tour de
France era until 1966. In this category the AC Cobras and the
Jaguar E-Type are competing for the best times on the special
stages and the track. Overall victory went to Shaun Lynn and
co-pilot Kevin Kivlochan who went into the last day with a
comfortable lead after favourite Ludovic Caron lost his car on the
6th special stage on Friday afternoon. In a slippery fast left corner
in the woods the Cobra made contact with the surrounding mound
and although the car could be driven the next day this took his
chances on the victory. But Caron was not the only one who went
into the landscape in this corner as several others did as well. At
Paul Ricard Lynn could take it easy be following his hardest
opponent, the Jaguar E-Type of Jean-Pierre Lajournade to an
comfortable eighth place.
After the years of the touring and GT cars the Tour de France
Auto was held for sports prototypes from 1967 on. Although these
are not eligible for the overall victory this era is the most
interesting of the new Tour Auto as one could rarely see a
Porsche 906 or Ford GT40 on public roads, not to mention on
alpine passes. This category was finally won by Romain Rocher
and Jean Francois Pennillard on Porsche 906.
But the Tour Auto is not just about competition but also half the
cars are driving on a given regularity speed with the choice of a
low, medium or high average. The regularity trophy was won by a
duo of Alpine A110 of Georges Henri Meylan with Julie Stervinouin
front of Pierre and Marcel Ragues.
Now that the Tour Auto 2014 is over the organizers are certainly
beginning to plan next year’s event and one could be curious what
the itinerary will look like next year. Certainly it will again contain
some of the most enjoyable country roads but the direction is still
unclear.
For now we have our final daily report from the Tour Auto, in the
next days we will take a closer look at the entry list and bring an
extra gallery sorted by cars and their starting numbers.
Report & images … Peter Singhof
www.ClassicCarPhotography.de
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